Work conveying mechanism



Feb. 19, 1957 Q. M. BLOOM WORK CONVEYING MECHANISM 5 Sheets-Sheet 1Original Filed July 15, 1950 IN V EN TOR.

BY Quen/l fl Mfi/aom ATTORNEY.

Feb. 19, 1957 Original Filed July 15. 1950 FIG. 2 'rl O. M. BLOOM WORKCONVEYING MECHANISM all 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5

INVENTOR.

By Quwfi'r, M34,

ATTORNEY.

Q. M. BLOOM WORK CONVEYING MECHANISM Original Filed July 15. 1950 Feb.19, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORF Q08 0/1 /7 B/oom ATTORNEY.

WORK CONVEYING MECHANISM Quentin M. Bloom, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.,assignor to Selas Corporation of America, Philadelphia, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Original application July 15, 1950, SerialNo. 174,009. Divided and this application September 26, 1951, Serial No.248,399

Claims. (Cl. 198-127) The present invention relates to apparatusforheating large billets, and more particularly to apparatus for conveyinglarge, heavy billets through a furnace or other device while the billetsare being heated or being moved from one point to another.

The heating of large billets for piercing or other purposes hasheretofore usually been done in rotary hearth or roller hearth furnaces.Even with furnaces of this type the handling of" the heavy billets,whichmay weigh as much as three and one half to four tons, is a problemthat has occasioned much difficulty.

In accordance with the present invention large billets that may be asmuch as thirteen inches in diameter and sixteen feet long are heatedindividually in substantially cylindrical furnaces. other in end to endrelation. The furnace may be continuous or made in sections as desired,and depending upon the length thereof that is required to bring thebillets up to the desired temperature. In some cases it may be desirableto provide a preheating chamber above the heating chamber and connectedtherewith by passages through which products of combustion may pass. Insuch a case the billets are moved in one direction through thepreheating chamber, and in an opposite direction through the heatingchamber.

Themechani'sm for moving the billets through the preheating chamber maycomprise conventional conveyor rollers of heat resistant material. Themechanism for moving the billets through the heating chamber, however,comprises a number of rotating shafts with their upper ends extendingthrough the floor of the furnace. These shafts are spaced at intervalsthroughout the length of the furnace and are provided with caps uponwhich the billets rest. As the shafts are rotated the billets are movedaxially through the furnace. an angle to the vertical in the directionof billet movement the billets will be rotated around their axes as wellas being moved axially. This construction is such that a minimum numberof openings is made through the furnace By mounting the shafts at atentinvention are pointed out with particularity in the claims The billetsare moved one after the wall for the conveying mechanism. Equally asimportant is that the billets are being supported only at a plurality ofpoints so that they may be evenly heated. There is an absolute minimumcontact between the billets and their supporting and conveyingmechanism.

The present application is a division of my copending application SerialNo. 174,009 filed July 15, 1950, now Patent No. 2,592,236. The saidapplication is directed to the combination of a furnace and conveyingmeans to move elongated work to be heated through the furnace. Thepresent application is directed to the conveying mechanism per se.

An object of the invention is to provide means to convey an elongatedobject through a path by mechanism including parts that engage the workat a plurality of spaced points.- A further object of the invention isto provide mechanism to rotate elongated objects around their axes asthey are being moved through an axially disp s dp th J I The variousfeatures of novelty which characterize my annexed to and forming a partof this specification. For a better understanding of the invention,however, its advantages and specific objects attained with its use,reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptivematter in which I have illustrated and described a preferred embodimentof the invention.

in the drawings:

Figure 1 is a section through the furnace taken on line 11 of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a section through the furnace taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1;I

Figure 3 is a section of the furnace taken on line 33 of Figure 2; c

Figure 4 is a view in section showing the details. of the conveyingmechanism;

Figure 5 is a section of the furnace corresponding to Figure l, andtaken on line 5-5 of Figure 6, but having or may consist of a number ofunits placed end to end.

Work is moved through the preheating chamber by means of conveyor rollsmounted shafts 5 that extend through the sidewalls of the chamber andwhichare supported in suitable bearings. These shaftsrnay be eitherperpendicular to the-line of travel of the billets or at a slight an leto the perpendicular. skewed rollers will cause the work to be rotatedaround its axis as it is being advanced through the preheating chamber.In some cases this is desirable since the work can often be more evenlyheated around its periphery if it is rotated as it is passing throughthe furnace.

The furnace isconstructed of refractory material 7 in accordance withusual furnace practice, which refractory is backed up by sheet metalwork 8. The entire furnace is rigidly held in position and supported bystructural steel members 9." It will be seen that the heating chamber 2is shaped so that it closely surrounds the work being heated and isprovided on each side with a row of burner blocks 11 that are directedtoward the work. Each of these burner blocks forms a part of a burner ofthe type I disclosed in the patent of A. A..Furczyk, No. 2,561,793issued on July 24, 1. These burners are of the radiant type and areprovided with cup-shaped depressions 12 into which the end of adistributor 13 extends. A suitable mixture of gas and acombustionsupporting gas are supplied through the distributor and from which theyare discharged in a substantially radial direction into the cup. Thefuel mixture is ignited as it leaves the distributor and burns withinthe cup to heat the same to incandescence. The-burners are so designedthat complete combustion takes place within the cup so that flame willnot impinge upon the work. Radian-t heat is directed from theincandescent cups 12 toward the Work, and this heat ,is augmented byconvection heat produced by the hot products of combustion whichcirculate around the work in a highly turbulent condition. Some of thehot products of combustion are discharged through entrance and exitopenings 14at the ends of the furnace chamber 2. Most diameter smallerthan the diameter of the furnace cham Patented Feb. 19, 1957' In thelatter case, the

the..billets.that areto be.heated. These openings may.

be faced with a water-cooled jacket that will serve to protect the endsof the furnace from the action of the hot-productsof combustionwhich'are blasted through this opening. It is noted that the roof of thepreheating chamber. 3 is formed of slabs 17 which can beremoved to giveaccess to this chamber and, through the openings 16, to the chamber 2.It is also noted that the floor of thechamber 2 is provided with aplurality of openings 21 through which the work forwarding or conveyormechanism shown generally at 22 may extend into the furnace. chamber.This conveyor mechanism is used to move the work axially through theheating chamber 2 and is. of. a novel construction. The conveyormechanism will now be described.

Themechanism formoving thework through the heating chamber of thefurnace includes a plurality of upstanding members 23 made of heatresisting alloy and each of which has a cap 24 on the upper end thereofuponwhich work is supported. It will be seen that these members extendfrom below the furnace and into chamber 2 through the opening 21 in thebottom of the chamber. The openings 21 need be only large enough toreceive the members, which are set at an angle of approximately 15 tothe vertical as shown in Figures 1 and 4. The members, however, aresubstantially vertical in a direction at right angles to the length ofthe furnace chamber as shown in Figure 2. From an inspection of Figure 3it will be seen that the members 23 are placed in two parallel rowsthrough the furnace chamher and that the members of each row arestaggered with respect to the members in the other row. The members 23can be spaced at any necessary interval. On a furnace designed to handlebillets of a minimum of six feet in length the members will be spaced ontwo foot, ten inch centers so that each billet will at all times besupported on at least four of the members, two in each row.

Each of the members 23 projects from and is mounted for rotation in agear box 25 taking the form of a housing that is in turn supported onstructural members 26 below the furnace. Referring to Figure 4 it willbe seen that the lower end of member 23 is provided with a flange 27that rests against a flange 28 attached to a hollow shaft 29 and isaxially aligned withthe shaft. The flange 28 is preferably welded to theshaft 29 but may, also be maintained against rotation with respectthereto by a suitable key such as that shown at 31 in the drawing. Themember 23 is held in position on the shaft by means of a split collar32, each half of'which surrounds the member and is attached by bolts 33to flange 28. In order to prevent relative rotation between the memberand its driving shaft, keys 34 are fastened by set screws 35 to thehalves of-the collar. These keys are received in suitable keyways thatare formed in lower end of member 23 just above the flange 27. A, skirt36 is attached to the periphery ofthe flange 28 by means of suitablescrews 37. This skirt acts to protect the supporting parts for member 23and to prevent any possibility of scale or dirt which may fall throughthe opening 21 ofthe furnace from getting into the driving mechanism forthe supporting member. The upper end of shaft 29 is reduced as shown at38 in the drawing to receive the lower end of member 23 and to guidethe. same into place as it is being. lowered into position through theopenings 16 and 21 of the furnace.

Shaft 29is guided at its upper end in the housing 25 of the gear box bymeans of a bearing 39 that is protected from above by a cap 41. This capis attached he h u n y b t 2- et d at the haf 29 has oil seal rings 43between it and the cap. These rings protect the shaft from dust that mayotherwise get into the housing, and also apt to retain oil that issprayed into the housing and over the bearing 39. The

lower end of the shaft 29 is guided by and the end thrust ofthe shaft istaken up by a bearing 44 that is-placed.

on a reduced portion 45 of the shaft. This bearing is held in place onthe shaft by a sleeve 46 that is threaded on the lower reduced end ofthe shaft, with the upper end of the sleeve engaging the inner-race ofthe bearing to hold the same against the shoulder fo rmedon the shaftwhere the reduced portion 45 terminates. The

lower end of the housing through which the shaft extends is closed by anannular plate 48 which is held in position by bolts 49. During theoperation of the device oil for lubricating the bearings and the drivinggears,

to be described is forced into the upper part of the housing at 50 withthe lower portion of the housing includ 48 and the shaft.

ing the cap 48, forming a sump into which the oil can be collected forrecirculation. To this end the sleeve 46 has a downwardly extendingportion which serves somewhat to prevent oil from flowing between theplate In addition, there is provided an oil seal 51 in the lowerface ofthe plate 48 to prevent any loss of oil.

The drive for each of the member 23 in each of the units is obtainedfrom a driving shaft 51 that extends through the housing in thedirection of the furnace chamber. This shaft is journalled in bearings52 and 53 on each side of the housing and is provided on each end with acoupling 54 that can be connected to similar shafts in the adjacentunits. A suitable motor is provided to drive the shafts so that all ofthe members 23 throughout the length of the furnace are driven at thesame speed. The arrangement is such that shaft 51 has a helical gear 55on it which meshes with and drives two gears 56, one of which is on eachof the shafts 29. The gear 56 is keyed to shaft 29, and is held inposition axially of the shaft 29 by a sleeve 57 which extends betweenthe gear and the upper bearing 39 and a sleeve 58 which extends betweenthe gear and the lower bearing 44. These sleeves not only serve tolocate the gear 56 on the shaft 29, but also to absorb the thrust of thegear and transfer it to the bearing. It will be seen that the two gears56 and shafts 29 in each unit will'be driven in opposite directions.This means that the members 23 in one row, in Figure 3 for example, willbe rotated clockwise while the members 23 in the otherv row will berotated counterclockwise. Therefore, a billet resting as shown in Figure2 partially on members in both rows,

will be moved axially through the furnace.

Since the cap 24 and theupper end ofthe member 23 extend into thefurnace and are subjected to the heat.

pipe 61 through which a suitable coolant may be supplied;

thereto and an outlet pipe 62. This outlet pipe is connected in theunion with a pipe 63 that extends axially of the shaft 29 to the upperend thereof where it is held.

in concentric relation with shaft 29 by a spider 64. Threaded into theupper end of the spider is a pipe 65 forming a continuation of pipe 63that extends to the upper end of the member 23 as is shown in thedrawing. Therefore, as the coolant, which is usually water, isintroduced through the inlet 61, it will flow upwardly in shaft 29 andmember 23 into the cap 24. From here the water will flow back throughpipes 65 and 63 to the outlet pipe 62. The amount of cooling that isobtained will depend both upon the volume of water supplied through themember as well as the height of the pipe 65.

The nearer this pipe is to the inside surface of the cap 'ing formedthereon.

tages:

the skirt 36 and the split ring 32 will be removed from the shaft 29. Asuitable tool can then be inserted through an opening 16 to withdraw oneof the members 23 from the furnace. This procedure can be followed withcomparative ease when it is necessary to repair the conveying mechanismfor any reason. 'After the members 23 have been removed it is, ofcourse, easy enough to disconnect the couplings 54 and withdraw thehousing 25 for repair or replacement. 'The'construction described hereinis such that repair and replacement of the various supporting means canbe rapidly accomplished with a minimum of disruption of the entiresystem.

In an installation using furnaces of the type disclosed herein, thefurnace can be made as a single elongated structure, but it is usuallymade in sections or units that are axially aligned with each other.Individual sections are desirable since one furnace section and aconveying mechanism associated therewith may be replaced when thefurnace section needs repair or relining, as itwill from time to time,without the necessity of shutting down the entire line.

In the operation of a furnace system of the type de scribed herein it isnecessary that the billets being heated be at least as long as thedistance between three adjacent supporting members 23 that are in thesame side of the furnace chamber. The minimum length of the billetshandled will be dependent upon design problems, and will generally be inthe neighborhood ofsix feet. The maximum length of billets handled,however, would depend entirely 'up'on mill practice. .The billets to beheated are placed by some suitable lifting machanism in axial alignmentwith thepreheating chamber 3 and are moved through that chamber by therollers 4. During this process they are heated by'the products ofcombustion coming through the'openings 16 from chamber 2. There afterthe billets are'moved to a lower level until-they. are aligned withthesiipportingm'embers i chamber 2. The billets are moved by thesesupporting members through the furnace chamber2 where they are broughtto the desired temperature. It will be seenthat each billet is supportedby at least two of the caps 24 on each side of a vertical line throughthe center thereof as indicated in Figure 2. As the caps are rotated inopposite directions they will act upon the billet and move it axiallythrough the furnace chamber.

In View of the fact that the members 23 are set at an angle to thevertical in the direction of movement of the billet, the billet willalso be given a rotating movement around its axis. This can be readilyunderstood because of the vectors involved in the support of the billetat its point of contact with the caps 24. The construction shown hereinpermits the handling of an extremely heavy billet with a minimum ofapparatus in the furnace itself. Furthermore, since the billet is beingmoved axially and is being rotated while it is moved, and since thebillet is only supported at any one time at a plurality of points on itssurface, the billet will be evently heated throughout its length withoutthe possibility of coldspots or streaks beengagement of the handlingmechanism against the .billet to an absolute minimum. In the embodimentof the invention described above the supporting members 23 are fixed atan angle of about 15 to the vertical. This will produce a revolution ofa 13" diameter billet around its axis in 12.7 feet of linear travel.

In some cases it may be desirable to have the members 23 set at adifferent angle so that a billet, perhaps of a smaller diameter, will berotated in a greater or shorter distance of linear travel. Aconstruction by means of whichthe supporting members 23 can be adjustedangularly is disclosed in Figures ,5 and 6 of the drawing. In this casethe supporting members are'mounted in bearings in a manner similar tothat described above. Here, however, each of the supporting members andits bearing structure is placed in an individual housing 71 which is 23in the furnace The present construction reduces 6 rotatable around anaxis formed by a driving shaft for each pair of supporting members. Thisdrive shaft is indicated at 72 and has a worm 73 on it meshing with wormgears 74 that are keyed to'the hollow shafts 29 upon which members 23are mounted. Each of the housings is fastened in its adjusted angularposition to a center plate 75 that is mounted onthe supporting structure26. The housings are fastened to this plate by means of bolts 76 u whichextend through ears 77 on the housing. The plate -75 can be providedwith holes, or it can be provided with slots through which the boltsextend so that the housing can be adjusted to any angular positionwithin its limits of travel. Each housing is also provided with adownwardly extending arcuate flange 78 that rests upon a track orshoulder 79 forming a part of the center plate 75. The center of theradius of curvature of the tracks are at the shaft 72 so that thehousings will be supported on the tracks in any of their adjustedpositions.

Referring to Figure 6, it will be seen that the shaft 72 extends fromone side of the housing and has a bevel gear 81 on its end which mesheswith a bevel gear 82 on a drive shaft 83. This drive shaft extendsparallel to the furnace and is supported for rotation in bearings thatare mounted on structure 84 which is attached to the furnace of-thefurnace that are long enough to permit the full adjustment of thesupporting members. These openings permit an undesirably large volume ofair to be 7, drawn in through the bottom of the furnace. Therefore, 35'

'plates 86 having an opening in them through which the supportingmembers extend are provided 'at thebottom of the furnace to cover the,openings 85. The plates 86 can be mounted in any suitable fashion sothat they are slidable along the bottom of the furnace to cover theopenings 85 in any adjusted positionof thernembers 23 The top of thecaps 24 onthe members 23 will vary in height somewhat with respect tothe bottom of the furnace as they are adjusted to various angularpositions. This variation, however, is not suficient to change theheight of the billet with respect to the burners enough to have anyeffect on the heating of the billet.

This embodiment of the invention operates in exactly the same manner asthe above-described embodiment with the addition that the rotation ofthe billets during the time that they are being heated can be adjustedfrom zero when members 23 are vertical to a maximum when members 23 areat their greatest angular position with respect to the vertical. Inmostcases the angle of the members 23 with respect to the vertical willonly be adjusted once for a given size and composition of billets thatare being heated. This adjustment will not be changed unless the size ofthe billet being heated is changed or unless its analysis requires thatit be rotated at a different speed. The proper speed of rotation ofangle of adjustment of the members 23 can best be determinedempirically.

From the above description it will be seen that I have provided aconveying mechanism to move a billet through a furnace while it is beingheated, which mechanism contacts the billet at a minimum area of itssurface so that substantially the entire billet is at all times exposedto the heat of the furnace. In addition to the above, the constructionof themechanism is such that extremely heavy billets can be handledrapidly and with ease'to forward the Work continuously through thefurnace While it is beingheated, and from the furnace to a point of usesuch as, for example, a piercing mill.

While in accordance with the provisions of the statutes, I haveillustrated and described the best form of embodiment of my inventionnow known to me it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in the form of the apparatus disclosed withoutdeparting from the spirit and scopeof-the invention, asset forth anangle to the vertical in the direction of said path with.

the members of one row tilted in one direction and the members of theother rowtilted in an opposite direction along said path, drive meansextending along said path, gearing between said drive means and saidmembers to rotate said members of each pair in opposite directions, anda cap on the top of each member upon which an article to be conveyed issupported, whereby an article supported jointly by members of each pairwill be moved along said path as said members are rotated.

2. Apparatus for moving elongated work through. a furnace including aconveying unit comprising a housing, a pair of members projectingupwardly from said housing on opposite sides of a vertical plane, meansto mount said members substantially parallel to each other andsubstantially vertical in one plane and at opposite angles from thevertical in a plane at'n'ght angles to saidlast mentioned plane, a driveshaft extending through said.

housing between said members, a drive gear on said shaft, a gear on eachmember meshing with the gear on said drive shaft, and a work supportingportion axially disposed on the top of each member.

3. Conveying mechanism for elongated cylindrical articles comprising incombination a plurality of. pairs of article supporting membersextending in a now along the path. through which the articles are to bemoved, each" pair of members extending at opposite angles to the ver-ti4 cal in the direction of said path and on oppo site sides of a planeextending vertically through said path, each ment ber having an articlesupporting portion located axially at its upper end, means to supporteach member adjacent to..its lower end, and means to rotate the membersof each pair in opposite directions with the portions of the members ineach pair that are nearest to each other moving in thedirectionof saidpath whereby articles supported jointly by said pairs of members will bemoved helically through said path.

4. Conveying mechanisms for heavy elongated work comprising a pluralityof pairs of upwardly extending members, each member having a cap axiallydisposed on the upper end thereof upon which the work to be conveyed issupported, means to support said members at their lower ends on oppositesides of vertical plane with the members of each. pair extending atopposite angles to the vertical in the direction of the path of movementof the work, and withthe members of each pair in alignment withthemembers of each other pair, and means to rotate the members of each pairin opposite directions with the aligned members of each pair rotating inthe same direction whereby work supported by the caps of each pair willbeconveyed in an axial direction and rotated around its axisas it isbeing conveyed.

5. The combin ation of claim 4 including means to adjust the supportingmeans for each member to vary its angle to the vertical and thereby varythe speed with which work will be rotated around its axis.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED. STATES PATENTS1,319,000 Holbein Oct. 14, 1919 1,568,958 Carter Jan. 12, 1926 1,795,137 Nye Mar. 3, 1931 2,248,657 Blondon July 8, 1941 2,529,690 HessNov. 14, 1950 2,583,764 Buckholdt Jan. 29, 1952 2,592,236 7 Bloom Apr.8, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 577,189 Germany May 26, 1933

